I've known, and heard about, people who have decided to go to medical school at all kinds of different points in their life.

I am one of them. In fact, I've considered it multiple times in my life.

And I took the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) twice (I think; the first one would have been over 30 years ago -- the facts surrounding this experience have been lost in the dusty archives of my mind, and the folks who put on the MCAT don't seem to have those statistics! :)

During 1994, when I took the MCAT for a second time, I was also an early contributor to something called "a usenet group", and the group was called misc.education.medical.

SIDEBAR: What is a usenet group?
"Usenet", as I am using it here, actually refers to what was called "usenet news" -- a set of text-based discussions that were originally passed between computers running the Unix Operating System -- over time it has been replaced by such things as yahoo groups and the like.
One company, dejanews, archived much of "the usenet news" over a number of years, and those archives were subsequently acquired by Google when they purchased dejanews -- and the posts can be found searching "Google Groups".
END SIDEBAR

But I bailed out, for various reasons. Early on it was because I had less than stellar grades. Later in life, it was because, well, because it was later in life, and medical schools have definite ideas about how old you should or shouldn't be to be admitted to medical school.

Nevertheless, fascination with medical education, the process of medical education, the process and implications of becoming a physician have been an interest for significant periods and times of my life. In the '00s, I became a frequent contributor to a board devoted to offshore medical schools ( http://www.valuemd.com ).

I've also had the benefit of various forms of healthcare education. I was trained at the "basic" EMT level 3 different times, and as a paramedic after the first of those. I've taken training to become a phlebotomist, and attended RN school for a year, before illness caused me to drop out.

When I talk about say I didn't pursue medical school (at least in the U.S.) because "it was later in life" -- I did this with understandings garnered from The Association of American Medical Schools (AAMC) indispensable guide -- "Medical School Admission Requirements" (MSAR) -- which comes out yearly and provides a breakdown of the most recent matriculating classes for which they have data.

And if you are considering medical school, or know someone who is (why else are you reading this?? :) -- you MUST get a copy of the MSAR -- as soon as you start seriously considering medical school -- whether you are in high school or in college. My knowledge of the information there actually made it possible for a then-aspiring physician to realize how she might be able get into medical school in spite of getting, I think it was, a "D", in organic chemistry. There was a program which applied well to her particular situation, and with that knowledge she was able to enter and graduate from medical school.

The MSAR has a great deal of statistical information -- things as age breakdowns, grade breakdowns, MCAT score breakdowns, gender breakdowns, application/matriculation breakdowns -- and some of this information is provided for all medical students/medical school applicants as well as some specifics for each medical school. Never mind that a lot of what gets people into medical school really goes rather much beyond those points -- though it's helpful to know where a medical school application could be weak.

For instance, when I first considered medical school, my gender was a liability. Only 10% of all medical students were female. (Now it hovers around 50%, with some schools actually having more women students than men.)

There are groups that can help -- so, if you are older, which is also called being "a nontraditional student" -- the organization National Society of Nontraditional Premedical and Medical Students (found at http://www.oldpremeds.org )

The third time I seriously considered medical school -- and why I became involved with http://www.valuemd.com -- was in the early '00s, after I was laid off from my latest high tech position, following the "dot com bomb".

At that time, I also looked at a variety of healthcare-related occupations.

Medical school -- becoming a physician -- may be right for you, I don't know.

But I do know that the process of becoming a physician takes longer, costs more and is less remunerative than 20-30 years ago. When I considered medical school in 1994, the American Medical System was already changing, and it was widely understood that understanding of these changes, and the significance of these changes, could easily be something asked in a medical school interview.

And those changes have come home to roost.

Physicians -- who used to recommend the career of physician to their children -- no longer do so, in increasing numbers.

And I think anyone who is seriously considering medical school should be made aware of just why that is -- and why some doctors closed their practices and "retired early".